Trucking Company Business Valuation Benchmarks

Business owners, prospective buyers, and industry investors rely on a diverse set of financial benchmarks to assess the value of a business. We have compiled data from current BizBuySell listings and sold businesses to provide insight into the business for sale market and important benchmarks for pricing and evaluating trucking companies relative to industry standards.

See also: Moving and Shipping Business Valuation Metrics

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Highlights of Trucking Businesses Sold on BizBuySell

Trucking businesses listed and sold on BizBuySell range from private general trucking companies and specialized transportation logistics businesses to long-distance and line-haul trucking companies contracted with large brands like FedEx. These trucking companies often engage in freight brokerage and related business operations as well.

Trucking Company Business Transaction Trends

After the pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, it became clear that flexibility in transportation of goods is paramount. Median sale price of trucking companies listed and sold on BizBuySell post-pandemic increased substantially. Prices came back down in 2024 as the make-up of transactions skewed towards smaller businesses.

Trucking Company Business Valuation Multiples

Valuation, or pricing, multiples are financial tools that allow for comparisons between businesses that have different levels of sales and financial performance. They represent the sales price of a business relative to its revenue or earnings, and given enough individual business sales data, they represent what the market is willing to pay for a business given its revenue and earnings.

Valuation Trends

Business values and associated multiples fluctuate over time, influenced by a variety of macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, inflation, consumer spending, and overall economic growth. Trucking company valuation multiples are fairly consistent, though they peaked during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as vulnerabilities in the global supply chain increased visibility and demand for transport businesses.

Earnings Multiples

Earnings multiples represent the value of a business relative to its owner’s discretionary earnings or "cash flow". Arguably the most important valuation metric - as seller's discretionary earnings will often dictate how much a buyer is able to borrow to finance the business acquisition - business valuations tend to hinge on a reasonable earnings multiple.

Revenue Multiples

Revenue multiples represent the value of a business relative to its overall sales or revenue. In conjunction with an earnings analysis, revenue multiples are commonly used to value a business based on its overall sales.

How to Interpret These Multiples

Recent Listings vs. Sold Businesses

We calculate and provide valuation multiples from two sources: Current and recent listings of trucking companies & related businesses for sale, and our database of "comparable" businesses sold on BizBuySell. Multiples based on listing data are usually higher due to owners setting asking prices above what their businesses will ultimately sell for. This occurs either intentionally as a negotiation strategy, or incidentally due to business owners’ common tendency to overvalue their own businesses.

Multiples based on comparable businesses - "comps" in business broker parlance - are much more useful as they represent the prices at which businesses actually sell. Business brokers and valuation professionals will always turn to local comps when pricing businesses for sale or evaluating businesses for acquisition. We provide both sets of data at the national level to offer general context.

Quartiles, Median, and Average

No two businesses are identical, and as such, valuation multiples exist in a range. We have carved out four common values within this range: Lower quartile represents the value under which the lowest 25% of valuation multiples fell. Upper quartile represents the value above which the highest 25% of multiples fell. Median is the middle of the range, and average is the mean of the set. Mean is almost always higher than the median, driven by a minority of high volume, high value businesses sold at multiples above the upper quartile.

Businesses with consistent financial performance, above average revenue and earnings, demonstrable growth potential, low owner involvement, unique competitive advantages, and a seller willing to finance will command a multiple at or above the upper quartile. Lower volume businesses with thin profit margins, full-time owner involvement, and many direct competitors will trade at or below the lower quartile. Most businesses will fall somewhere in the middle.

Based on this data, half of trucking businesses are valued and sold between 2.35 and 3.75 times their annual seller discretionary earnings, with 25% of well-run, larger trucking companies trading above this range, and 25% of smaller, less desirable trucking businesses trading below.

Financial Benchmarks

To determine how a business compares in terms of sales volume and financial performance relative to industry peers, it’s necessary to have some insight into industry standards. "Benchmarking" describes the practice of comparing a business’s financial performance to typical industry standards to determine where a business falls relative to other businesses in the same industry. These benchmarks can help guide trucking business owners and buyers towards appropriate valuation multiples from the range above.

To that end, we have aggregated financial ranges of trucking business sold on BizBuySell that can be useful for comparing a given trucking business to the market.

Trucking Company Revenue and Earnings Trends

Median revenue of trucking companies listed and sold on BizBuySell has been on a strong, but volatile upward trajectory. Larger companies entered the market to capitalize on healthy valuations, but 2024 saw a return to more modest levels.

Earnings Ranges

Discretionary earnings (used interchangeably with the terms "cash flow" and seller's discretionary earnings or SDE) is often the crux of business valuations, so it is important to benchmark it relative to other similar businesses traded on the business for sale market. Below you will find discretionary earnings ranges for trucking companies sold over the past five years, as well as recent trucking business for sale listings.

Revenue Ranges

Revenue volume plays a large role in business valuation, as it measures the size of the potential income opportunity for new ownership. It's not uncommon for buyers to select an earnings multiple range based on overall revenue volume. The table below includes revenue ranges of trucking businesses sold over the past five years and recent trucking companies listed for sale.

How Revenue and Earnings Level Affects Business Values

Obviously, higher levels of earnings lead to higher valuations, even given the same multiple. However, valuation multiples also tend to rise with business sales volume. Trucking companies that consistently generate higher sales (and maintain benchmark profit margins) tend to sell for earnings multiples on the higher end. So, a trucking company generating over $4MM in revenue may command an earnings multiple of 3.75 or better, while a smaller trucking business with sales below $1MM may trade closer to 2.35 times its owner's discretionary earnings.

This tendency for higher sales volumes to fetch higher valuation multiples is largely driven by the economics of business acquisition financing. Businesses with greater revenue and earnings give buyers more cushion to cover debt service obligations and still have enough left over to pay the new owner a reasonable income.

Transport & Storage Sector Comparisons

For a more complete understanding of the market and valuation standards, consider comparisons within the broader transportation and storage category when benchmarking trucking companies. The chart and table below include key metrics from sales of select transportation businesses on BizBuySell.

Valuations in the transportation category are tightly correlated to revenues. These businesses all have very similar operating models and associated costs and risks. Compared to other businesses in the category, trucking companies generate revenues on the higher end, and as a result, tend to sell at multiples on the higher end.

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